Cord connectors for supporting electric wire passing through an aperture of an electrical enclosure or a wall are well known. These cord connectors are often used to protect wires or tubes passing through such apertures against wear or shock or both.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,458,409 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,111 disclose a bushing-type connector member with integral spring-like fingers or supports radiating about an epicenter. These fingers or supports are adapted to accept and cooperate with an inserted cable member but prevent reverse-axial movement of the cable member after it is inserted into the knockout hole through the connector member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,363 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,104 disclose a compressible device having a plurality of ribs or jaws directed toward the axis center of the device with spaces between the apexes.
These devices are typically pushed or otherwise inserted into an opening in the enclosure such as a knock-out of an electrical outlet box or panel. Once the connector is in place, a wire or cable is then pushed through its center and into the enclosure for subsequent termination with an electrical device or fixture inside the box. The connector itself is generally configured with a plurality of inwardly extending fingers that engage and grip the wire and which permit the wire to be pushed into the box but which make it difficult to pull the wire back out of the box.
Although most such devices may be suitable at providing strain relief to the inserted wire, their constructions, and particularly their finger components are such that they are unable to also seal around the wire and provide weather protection in order to prevent moisture from passing into the box without requiring multiple assembly from both sides of a partition or through other complex means such as a threaded end caps.